If you have never made your own barbecue sauce before, I’m going to have to insist that you try to at least once. And while I’m loath to ensnare myself in the myriad layers of barbecue conviction across this land — from the don’t-come-near-my-sauce-with-those-tomatoes whole-hoggin’ in Carolina to the don’t-you-dare-come-near-my-mesquite with sauce in Texas (and then the small matter of me being from New Jersey where barbecue just meant cooking your hamburgers and hot dogs outdoors) — I might have to insist that you try this one because it’s sacrilegiously good.

My crush on Ina Garten is almost as strong as my Martha-crush, if not stronger as she’s never once failed me and I believe we share an absorption with making typically unremarkable foods remarkable again. Her lemon cake has got to be one of the top five cakes ever made with her orange chocolate chunk version squarely in the top ten; her coleslaw made me like coleslaw and her barbecue sauce is a spectacular Eastern/Asian/Southern mutt.

I’ll admit it’s a bit of an ingredient dump. I hate overly relying on things from jars and bottles when cooking, so this recipe taking but two of thirteen ingredients from the produce aisle caused me pause — the first time. After I’d tried it, however, with flavors so loud you can almost hear them, I’ve happily brought home groceries bags full of clink and liquid weight to make it again and again.

Since we’re barbecue-agnostic in these parts, we felt free to couple our sauce-laden chicken with asparagus and a radicchio/napa slaw for dinner and I encourage you to also innovate as you please. I suspect Whole Foods boneless, skinless chicken thighs broiled in the oven weren’t getting us invited to any Memphis pig-pickins, anyhow.

Ina Garten’s Barbecue Sauce
Adapted from her Food Network show

This is a tangy, subtly spicy, delicious mutt of a barbecue sauce. On her show, Ina Garten explained that she had at one point tried to develop different sauces to complement different cuisines — from Asian to various South Eastern regions — but only when she mixed them all together in frustration did she find exactly her barbecue sauce nirvana. I couldn’t agree more. I make this all summer, freeze leftovers in one-cup servings, and sob when we run out.

In a large saucepan on low heat, saute the onions and garlic with the vegetable oil for 10 to 15 minutes, until the onions are translucent but not browned. Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer uncovered on low heat for 30 minutes. Use immediately or store in the fridge.

I wanted to try this when I saw this episode, and now I will for sure! Thanks, it looks fantastic.

Ina has never failed me, either. The first whole turkey I ever made was her “Perfect Roast Turkey,” and it was so perfect I’ll never make another. She posts the recipe only around Thanksgiving on the FoodTV.com site.

I watched Ina’s episode this weekend when she made this BBQ sauce and I was pretty intrigued. But it looks like it makes so much sauce, more than my husband and I would be able to eat in even 2 or 3 dinners. How long would you expect this to last in the fridge? A month maybe? I have no concept of how time evolves for different foods.

Hi Sandy — It makes 6 cups, I believe, which is indeed quite a lot. What we do is freeze the leftovers in one cup containers. We took stuff out from a year (year!) ago that was perfectly fine. It can even be defrosted in the microwave if you’re in a rush. In the fridge, I try not to keep it for much more than a month, unless poured while hot into jars which vacuum-seal upon closing.

i made this this past weekend (AWESOME) and put 3/4 c servings in plastic bags to freeze, only they are not freezing rock solid. is that what happened to you? does this mean that i should probably use it within the month? thanks for any advice!

Hi Stepha — We’ve frozen it before many times, but it has always gotten solid. We may have hyperactive freezers, or yours may be running a bit warm. If the latter, it’s probably not good to have it in there more than a month. If you’re sure your freezer is a good temperature, this stuff lasts in the freezer for… well, let me just say that once, we found a container a year later, defrosted it, and it was good as new. So it will keep for a long time.

I had NO IDEA that worcestershire sauce wasn’t vegetarian, fancy that! I’d say just use soy sauce, or a mix of soy sauce and tamarind paste and/or maybe even some sugar, molasses and vinegar (I saw this suggested here). There are also a lot of vegetarian brands of worcestershire.

thanks for the tips. i learned something new too — definitely did not know that worcestershire sauce may have its roots in india! being indian, i keep tamarind paste on hand in my kitchen, so i should be able to sub out the worcestershire with that + soy sauce. thanks deb!

so crazy weird, i just watched the episode today on food network featuring her insane sauce. i had seen the episode last summer or the one before? anyhow, haven’t ever tried making it. can’t wait to try yours!! thx

I made this today using vegetarian worcestershire sauce and adding 2 T. brown sugar and a splash of liquid smoke. I was worried when I tasted it at the beginning, but after it had cooked down it was awesome!!! Can’t wait to make a bbq faux-chicken pizza with it!

Incredible barbecue sauce. This is my third batch this summer.
I was hesitant about the amount of vinegar, but it mellows perfectly.
Like Lizzy, above, I add a bit of liquid smoke to make up for the fact that this sauce usually ends up on tofu. Have used it as a pizza sauce as well, with great success.

Best barbecue sauce ever! The depth of flavor, the spiciness, the bit of heat makes it wonderful and I’m kicking myself for not making it sooner as I’ve had it bookmarked forever. I finally made it last weekend for some wings and it was delicious. So easy I’ll never go back to bottled.

Ann – What ingredients did you use? Mine was perfect, a little sweet with only background salt flavour to give it depth. Maybe try it again, with salt reduced hoisin, Worcestershire and soy? It really is an amazing sauce, it would be a shame to give up on it.

I found the saltiness overwhelmed the taste also. With as many of my favorite ingredients in it, I’ll probably play with it a bit, but I did use low sodium everything (including tomato paste). Perhaps it’s because I don’t eat salt most of the time.

I also thought the sauce was a little salty, but I don’t think you need to use a whole lot since it has so much flavor. I think I might reduce the cumin slightly next time. Thanks for the recipe! Making shredded barbecue chicken and carrot sandwiches.

I’m so glad to find a fellow fan of Ina’s barbecue sauce! I’ve ben making this for years and love it. I made a batch yesterday, and was looking online to see if it freezes well. Voila. I’m going to have to try the Lemon Cake, yum…

I’ve been trying to find a barbecue sauce recipe without ketchup (HFCS) and had almost given up the search. So glad I found your site. If hoisin sauce is free of high fructose corn syrup, then barbecue is back on the menu for my husband!

I love Ina Garten recipes too, except this one. Too salty, too much cumin and oil. I’ve halved the recipe, reduced the salt by reducing the hoisin sauce and mustard and using all low salt ingredients. I added liquid smoke and chipotle pepper too. If its still too salty you can add some of this sauce to salt free HFCS free ketchup until it reaches the taste you desire. I live in CA and still wouldnt use up all of this sauce in a year. I cook so many other recipes besides barbeque. PS. I absolutely LOVE your blog and recipes, I’m addicted to it now. can’t wait for the cookbook!

hi there! i just made a version of this for bbq beef ribs. i didn’t have hoisin, so i used what i did have… a combination of sweet dark soy sauce and homemade strawberry rhubarb jam. i think it worked like a charm! i’ll have to let you know what our dinner guests think…

I just made this recipe & the sauce is fantastic! My kids loved it, too. I made baked pork chops & used this awesome sauce for it. I have to say that this wasn’t really “BBQ sauce” in the traditional sense. It had Asian & Indian favors in it, which I love, but not really a true BBQ sauce. My husband liked it, but laughed when I called it “BBQ sauce”. It’s delicious and I’m saving this recipe, but I needed to point out that it’s a unique basting sauce, but not really BBQ. Maybe that’s why previous posters used Liquid Smoke?

This is literally THE PERFECT BBQ sauce ever. I had a friend picking scraps of pulled pork as an excuse to drink up more of this glorious sauce. Also had a BBQ on the beach and brought too much food. Ended up giving away most of my food to random beach walkers and a mother and two daughters said it was the best BBQ sauce they had ever had.. ever… EVER

OMG! This sauce is soooooo delicious, I was eating it by the spoonful! I made it last year and, since the batch is pretty big, I put half of it in a beuatiful jar, made a personalized label, and gave it to a friend as a B-day gift. I am making it today again for my partner’s B-day bbq tomorrow, and I am expecting to get lots of compliments!;-)

Hi Dee — I am not really a canning expert but see little in here that I think would be a problem to can. Not sure if you mean fresh, dried, just the seeds of or bottle hot sauce from datil peppers, but there’s no reason not to tweak this to your tastes.

Since I’m from Germany, I’m not so sure about the BBQ traditions and customs in the wild west… is this sauce meant to be put on the meat before or during grilling it, or is it to dip in when you eat it?
Am going to a camp fire next weekend and will definitely bring this to wow my mates!

Hi Franz — It’s actually used both ways, depending on where you’re from. So, you can brush it over a bunch of times while you grill the meat (more common), or, cook the meat more simply and serve the sauce alongside.

Ron — Is it horrible because it wasn’t to your taste when you made it or because you don’t think these ingredients belong in a barbecue sauce? Only the first would actually be helpful to others as a comment on a recipe.

Hi Deb – I just found your blog about a month ago! It’s terrific. Thanks! Question: My daughter is allergic to mustard, but I want to try your dry rub chicken with this sauce, or one like it. Any sense of what it would be like w/o mustard, or what I might substitute? Thanks!

I decided to make this sauce tonight because I’m making your dry rub chicken tomorrow. Please don’t scoff, but I am going to do it on my Big Green Egg and hopefully it all turns out. Thank you for sharing this sauce recipe…it’s yet another homemade condiment that I want to just eat as the main course or drink with a straw. I ate several spoonfuls before my husband made me stop and reminded me that I can have more with the chicken tomorrow night! Delish!

I made a half quanity because I didn’t have that much hoisin sauce. It took much longer than 30 minutes to mellow out; probabaly more like 60 minutes. The result is pretty thick, so I’ll probably thin it out with some orange juice when I cook with it. It wasn’t salty at all but had a pretty good kick to it. We used it as a condiment on some grilled chicken sandwiches. In my opinion, the dry rubbed chicken makes its own fabulous sauce, which in my mind, needs nothing else but itself….

I too have a HUGE girl crush on Ina Garten. Everything she makes, and I copy, truly is foolproof. This is the only barbeque sauce I use. I make it in triplicate in fact, tonight is barbeque chicken and ribs. And extra sauce for dipping ;)

Hi Maria — Neither are matches in flavor, but they still might be good here. I’d use less, perhaps half, of either if using them, just in case they overwhelm the final flavor. Hoisin is comparatively mild, I think.